Google tries ferry service for workers in East Bay

Feb 03, 2014

Google workers who live in the East Bay can now make the commute to the company's Silicon Valley campus by sea.

For a week, anyway.

Starting Monday, the agency that operates San Francisco Bay Ferry says Google will provide a private ferry service between Harbor Bay terminal in Alameda to the Port of Redwood City.

The Water Emergency Transportation Authority says Google workers will not park in the Harbor Bay ferry lot during the 5-day trial.

Last month Google launched a similar service from San Francisco's ferry terminal to defuse a growing controversy over the private buses that tech companies use to transport workers from the city to Silicon Valley. The buses have for some become a symbol of economic inequality and rising housing costs and evictions in San Francisco.

San Francisco transportation officials have approved a new pilot plan to regulate private employee shuttles operated by tech companies like Facebook and Google and charge a fee for the vehicles to use public ...

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